Obvious

They were crossing the Potomac when they spotted a helicopter. It was a sleek, black military model just like the one they'd seen at Westover Hall. And it was coming straight toward them.

"They know the van," Percy said. "We have to ditch it."

They bought tickets and got through the turnstiles, looking behind them for any signs of pursuit. A few minutes later they were safe aboard a southbound train, riding away from D.C. As their train came above ground, they saw the helicopter circling the parking lot, but it didn't come after them.

Grover let out a sigh. "Nice job, Bianca, thinking of the subway."

Bianca looked pleased. "Yeah, well. I saw that station when Nico and I came through last summer. I remember being really surprised to see it because it wasn't here when we used to live in D.C."

Grover frowned. "New? But that station looked really old."

"I guess," Bianca said. "But trust me, when we lived here as little kids, there was no subway."

Thalia sat forward. "Wait a minute. No subway at all?"

Bianca nodded.

"Are you being serious?" Y/N asked furrowing her eyebrows. Although she didn't see their whole subway system, she was pretty sure that it couldn't be less than twelve years old. It didn't make any sense. The only way though it could be possible was if Nico and Bianca actually traveled through time.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "How long ago…" Her voice faltered. The sound of the helicopter was getting louder again.

"We need to change trains," Percy said. "Next station."

Over the next half hour, all they thought about was getting away safely. They changed trains twice. No one had any idea where they were going, but after a while, they finally lost the helicopter.

Unfortunately, they got off the train at the end of the line, in an industrial area with nothing but warehouses and railway tracks. And snow. Lots of snow. It seemed much colder here. Percy was glad for his new lion's fur coat.

As they wandered through the railway yard, thinking there might be another passenger train somewhere, Percy realized how except for him, all of the other four were huddled around Y/N. He soon understood their reason too. His friend was a child of Apollo, and clearly emitting heat around herself to fight the cold. But..it must feel suffocating, right?

"What are you guys doing?" Percy asked walking beside them, "She's gonna die in there if you all keep walking like this."

"You can join in if you want instead of taking a piss out of it," Thalia grumbled.

"Shut up," Percy said, "I'm saying this cause she needs the save as much energy as possible. Besides, doing this continuously is surely making her uncomfortable and hot-"

Y/N couldn't help but laugh softly. Percy really was adorable at times. "Hey," she said looking at him, "Heat and light don't bother me, remember?"

A deep shade of red spread through Percy's ears and cheeks. Thalia and Bianca seemed to find this extremely funny and started laughing making him walk faster.

"I can't believe he's such an idiot," Thalia whispered.

"He was just worried," Y/N chuckled.

"I'm sure he wouldn't make a mistake like this for the rest of us," Thalia said, "Makes me think he just wants you all for himself."

And now it was her turn to blush. "You're overthinking," Y/N said.

"Tsk," Zoe clicked her tongue, "Can you keep your feelings in check?"

"Excuse me?" Y/N asked, almost in an offended tone.

"Um, you are....kind of affecting our mood too Y/N," Grover said.

Y/N observed their faces and realized how all of them were smiling lightly and had faint redness on their cheeks. "You're wrong, it's just the cold," she said, looking ahead at their path.

"Oh really?" Thalia smirked, "Of course, none of us can feel how embarrassed you are right now."

"Say another word and I'll keep being warm by myself," Y/N said clearing her throat.

There were just rows and rows of freight cars, most of which were covered in snow like they hadn't moved in years. A homeless guy was standing at a trash-can fire. he gave them a toothless grin and said, "Y'all need to get warmed up? Come on over!'

They huddled around his fire as Y/N stopped emitting heat, Thalia's teeth were chattering. She said, "Well this is g-g-great."

"My hooves are frozen," Grover complained.

"Feet," Percy corrected, for the sake of the homeless guy.

"Maybe we should contact camp," Bianca said. "Chiron—"

"No," Zoe said. "They cannot help us anymore. We must finish this quest ourselves."

Y/N gazed miserably around the rail yard. Somewhere, far to the west, Annabeth was in danger. Artemis was in chains. A doomsday monster was on the loose. And they were stuck on the outskirts of D.C., sharing a homeless person's fire.

"You know," the homeless man said, "you're never completely without friends." His face was grimy and his beard tangled, but his expression seemed kindly. "You kids need a train going west?"

"Yes, sir," Percy said. "You know of any?"

He pointed one greasy hand. For some reason, Y/N felt his presence was extremely unusual. And there was only one person - well, god, that she knew would be in this kind of place and with fire. A small smile crept up her lips. She was about to call him out but suddenly they noticed a freight train, gleaming and free of snow. It was one of those automobile-carrier trains, with steel mesh curtains and a triple-deck of cars inside. The side of the freight train said SUN WEST LINE.

"That's… convenient," Thalia said. "Thanks, uh…"

She turned to the homeless guy, but he was gone. The trash can in front of them was cold and empty as if he'd taken the flames with him.

"Come on," Y/N chuckled, "Let's leave."

An hour later they were rumbling west. There was no problem about who would drive now because they all got their own luxury car. Zoe and Bianca were crashed out in a Lexus on the top deck. Grover was playing race car driver behind the wheel of a Lamborghini. Thalia had hot-wired the radio in a black Mercedes SLK so she could pick up the alt-rock stations from D.C. and Y/N was sitting beside her looking sleepy on the shotgun seat.

"Join you?" Percy asked them.

Thalia shrugged, so he climbed into the shotgun seat, squeezing and sharing the space with Y/N.

The radio was playing the White Stripes. Thalia scoffed which made Percy look at her.

"Be more obvious," Thalia told him.

"What?" he asked, slowly putting his arm on Y/N's shoulder as she started nodding off to sleep, though trying her best to stay awake.

"Nothing," she said, "Nice coat."

Percy pulled the brown duster around himself, thankful for the warmth. "Yeah, but the Nemean Lion wasn't the monster we're looking for."

"Not even close. We've got a long way to go."

"Whatever this mystery monster is, the General said it would come for you. They wanted to isolate you from the group, so the monster will appear and battle you one-on-one."

"He said that?"

"Well, something like that. Yeah."

"That's great. I love being used as bait."

"No idea what the monster might be?"

She shook her head morosely. "But you know where we're going, don't you? San Francisco. That's where Artemis was heading."

Percy remembered something Annabeth had said at the dance: how her dad was moving to San Francisco, and there was no way she could go. Half-bloods couldn't live there. "Why?" he asked. "What's so bad about San Francisco?"

"The Mist is really thick there because the Mountain of Despair is so near. Titan magic—what's left of it—still lingers. Monsters are attracted to that area like you wouldn't believe."

"What's the Mountain of Despair?"

Thalia raised an eyebrow. "You really don't know? Ask stupid Zoe. She's the expert."

She glared out the windshield. Percy wanted to ask her what she was talking about, but also didn't want to sound like an idiot. He hated feeling like Thalia knew more than he did, so he turned his attention to Y/N and said in a low tone, "Get some sleep. You've been using your energy non-stop."

The afternoon sun shone through the steel-mesh side of the freight car, casting a shadow across Thalia's face. He thought about how different she was from Zoe—Zoe all formal and aloof like a princess, Thalia with her ratty clothes and her rebel attitude. But there was something similar about them, too. The same kind of toughness. Right now, sitting in the shadows with a gloomy expression, Thalia looked a lot like one of the Hunters.

Then suddenly, it hit him: "That's why you don't get along with Zoe."

Thalia frowned. "What?"

"The Hunters tried to recruit you," he guessed.

Her eyes got dangerously bright. He thought she was going to zap him out of the Mercedes, but she just sighed. "I almost joined them," she admitted. "Luke, Annabeth, and I ran into them once, and Zoe tried to convince me. She almost did, but…"

"But?"

Thalia's fingers gripped the wheel. "I would've had to leave Luke and Annabeth."

"Oh."

"Zoe and I got into a fight. She told me I was being stupid. She said I'd regret my choice. She said they - Luke would let me down someday."

They seemed to be traveling faster each second—shadows flickering like an old movie projector.

"That's harsh," he said. "Hard to admit Zoe was right."

"She wasn't right! Luke never let me down. Never."

"We'll have to fight him," he said. "There's no way around it."

Thalia didn't answer.

"You haven't seen him lately," Percy warned. "I know it's hard to believe, but—"

"I'll do what I have to."

"Even if that means killing him?"

"Do me a favor," she said. "Get out of my car."

He felt so bad for her that he didn't argue.

But she broke the silence and said, "Percy."

When he looked back, her eyes were red, but he couldn't tell if it was from anger or sadness. "Annabeth wanted to join the Hunters. And Y/N is thinking about it too. Maybe you should think about why. Although, I can only think of how you might care about one more than the other."

Percy would've liked to ignore the stare she cast on Y/N but he knew what she was indicating. It's not like he didn't know how he has been acting around her - way too caring, too interested in her activities. It would look all wrong when everyone knew how Annabeth and he were together.

Before he could respond, she raised the power windows and shut him out, which woke Y/N up in fright. "Oh," she whispered in a hoarse voice, "What happened now?"

He looked down at her face. How adorable she looked with her squishy cheeks resting on his chest. Her voice sounded...tempting. She slowly observed the position they were sitting in. Y/N was almost on his lap - almost. Her right leg was over his own, and she slept hugging him. Her hair looked a bit disheveled, which she soon started fixing. Realizing she was resting on his chest brought a sense of...desire to her.

The desire to remain in this position for just a little more. She knew she can't ask for anything more than this. Slowly, she looked up at him and discovered him to be already staring at her. Quite intensely. For a moment, his eyes flickered down to her lips making her lick them.

Percy knew he couldn't stare at her any longer than this. If he did...he was afraid of making the same mistake. The one that he did back on the ship. The one that he should've told Y/N by now.

"Hey," Percy whispered, "I have something that you should know about."